Shut Up And Dance With Me
by LeonaWriter
Summary: Even after Unova nearly being frozen over and a second hero coming to the region's defence, N still can't understand how a thing like a Pokemon Musical can be anything other than humiliating for the Pokemon involved. Hilda decides to change his mind. [fic based loosely on the song of the same name]


N had only gone further than frowning balefully at the building because Hilda had all but dragged him in. Otherwise, he would not have imagined any situation in which he might willingly end up in such a place.

Two years. Two years since he had first met her, since his father - _Ghetsis_ , he reminded himself, hardly a father when he was no better than those who had abused his friends, if not worse due to what he had planned - had failed his first attempt. Three months on from the second, which had involved at one point saving a young trainer who reminded him greatly of Hilda when he had met up with her on her journey, from certain death.

It had truly driven home how out of whack his life must have been, how out of balance his views, and renewed his urge to meet with Hilda again, even just once, just to ask her the questions that had been plaguing him for so long now.

Once he had made up his mind, he realised that it wasn't actually that hard to find her. She was a people person, she liked being around humans - which was possibly one reason why it had been so hard before, when he wasn't ready to face crowds of his own kind yet.

He tried to keep an open mind as she showed him around Nimbasa, the bright lights blinding and headache-inducing, the constant chatter and excitement from every angle causing him to turn his head this way and that at every shout and scream, his ears twitching at every Pokemon who was within range… most of them just as caught up as their trainers.

It had ended - or should have, he had thought at the time - with Hilda explaining, with an excited light in her eyes, what the Pokemon Musical was. How the props and the timing worked. How the Pokemon would be taught to dance, or would do their own thing, but that the main thing was to have fun.

N wasn't so sure. From what he was hearing, it all sounded too much like these Pokemon were being put onto a stage with only their trainer's ideas of fun in mind, regardless whether they truly wished to participate or not. To him, the use of props was a humiliation, not something to be mastered.

He hadn't been able to keep his true feelings from his face. Perhaps that was why, when she saw the time on her X-transciever, she didn't leave him behind, no matter how much he wished to be somewhere else, and took him by the hand, running into the building with a smile that worried Team Plasma's former king rather than reassured.

He stayed firmly planted to the corridor wall opposite the dressing rooms while Hilda worked what she called her 'magic', along with the others involved in the performance.

Tried not to think only of how he imagined the Pokemon this was all happening to should be feeling, and attempted (despite his misgivings) to see past to the truth. Hilda's team, he knew, were just as much her friends as any Pokemon were his. Everything else was a new experience.

Hilda's Leavanny (nicknamed Strings, something the Leavanny didn't mind, and in fact took pride in the fact that her skills were recognised in her name) took the lead, adorned in a top hat, wearing a bow tie and carrying a cane.

 _'Oh, I do have everything on straight, haven't I? I'd hate to go out on stage wonky after making sure everyone else looked their best! N, could you-?'_

Despite himself, he found his hands reaching out to neaten up the appearance of the dressed up Pokemon, even though he wasn't quite sure if he knew what he was doing at all.

Before he knew it, the Pokemon had been ushered out onto the stage, all the bright lights and the eyes of the audience on them, and Hilda was there at his side again.

"I know this play," she said. "It's a lively, fun thing - I didn't write it, one of the people who works here did, based on the way the musicals made them feel, and a few other things, stories from other regions. What do you think?"

He stole a glance at the part of the stage that he could see without feeling that was being seen by the audience, who were currently applauding at something done well.

He turned back around to tell her his thoughts on the matter - he had to be honest, he wasn't fully swayed yet - but was taken in by her eyes. The stage lights behind him caught her, lighting her up as though she were the one on the stage and the noise the crowds were making dimmed in his ears.

 _Blue. So blue. Like the sky, unending._

The music swelled, Hilda grinned, and N wondered if there was something fundamentally wrong with him - his chest felt strange, his breath caught, and when she took his arm again, he didn't resist, even when she took him onto the stage.

Suddenly conscious of where they were, he twisted back to the curtain.

"Don't look back," she said. "Keep your eyes on me."

A few moments ago it had been the easiest thing, and focusing on anything else was harder. Now, though? Now?

"I thought this was supposed to be a _Pokemon_ musical - I don't - Hilda, what are you-?!"

The grin was still plastered to her face, and now she was letting out a laugh.

"Shut up and dance with me!"

He had to resort to remembering what it was like in a battle, dodging footwork in order to stay balanced, and having his hands grabbed, Hilda spinning, laughing, into his arms.

 _'Come on, N! Move with the music, it's fun!"_

He'd been raised to be a king, not to dance - but he no longer had any kingdom worth speaking of, and a true king was one who learned from those he would lead.

 _'That's it! Oh - be careful, you nearly had her foot there!'_

He was _smiling_. He was _having fun_.

 _'Here,_ catch!'

A top hat was flying through the air, and it was only with the warning and quick reflexes that he caught it, and attempted to give it back - only to have the performer turn the motion back on him, and for him to realise that he was now the one wearing it.

The audience was cheering.

Hilda took one side, her Leavanny the other, and the other performers lined up beside them.

 _'Come on,_ ' they said.

"This is the part where you bow to the audience," Hilda whispered in his ear when he had not done so yet.

He inclined from the waist (like he had been taught, because this one thing was something he _did_ know) and the hall _erupted_ into deafening noise.

"Were we supposed to do that?" he asked, sure that they couldn't be heard. Flowers and berries were being thrown onto the stage, and he knew that someone would end up having to clear it up, but no one was making a move to just yet.

"Not really. But well, we all agreed it'd fun to sometimes shake things up a bit, and I'd just like to say on the behalf of the audience and your fellow castmates, you performed _admirably_."

N would have shook his head if they weren't up on stage still.

"Only because I had someone lead me who knew what she was doing."

He was still holding back, he knew that. Part of him was scared, still didn't know how to move forward. But it was in moments like these that he could understand how the psychic types he'd conversed with felt, sometimes, when they would foretell the future.

 _This is where I'm meant to be._

Not up on a stage, specifically - although if that happened again, he wouldn't mind so much if he had a bit of _warning_ \- but here.

With her.


End file.
